I recieved a notifcation email last night from JetBrains that ReSharper 4.0 beta is out and can be downloaded here.

UPDATE (6/10/08):  ReSharper 4.0 has been released.   Good Stuff!

Yesterday I ranted a little about how some just wait until a feature shows up in a Microsoft product before they'll even look at it...and how I use to be that guy. My jumping off point was when I finally took the time to investigate Test Driven Development (TDD). He may not remember it, but Scott Dockendorf was working with me at Healthvision and he gave us a demo on TDD. Like everyone else, I blew over it pretty fast because I knew we weren't going to change our corporate dev style. Soon after he jumped ship for Telligent and never looked back. :-)

When TDD started to click for me I finally woke up and realized that if I was going to be good at my profession then I couldn't wait on my employer (or Microsoft for that matter). This profession moves too fast and for everything I think I know there are 1000 things that I don't know. I'm not an extremist either, meaning that if it has MS attached to the name or process I don't automatically discount it like some. I will, however, take the time to look at ways to increase my productivity and ability to perform my job. It is such a blessing that a company pays me money to write code for a living and that's the least I can do for them.

Giddy Up!

I'm no ALT.NET guru but I have decided that it doesn't have to have the  Microsoft (MS) stamp to get me to look at it. I recall when I was "that guy". You know, the guy who would hear about non-MS options and glance over them. If it was that important and that good then MS would be doing it, right? The answer to that question is yes AND no. The reality is that we're all trying to do our best and serve the customers that pay us to write code. MS is the same and they do what is best for their business model which means that they can be reactive at times - just like everyone else.

Recently I was Listening to an episode of .NET Rocks!. It was show #328 with Joel Semeniuk on the State of Team System. All I can say is - what!? I mean he's talking about the new Continuous Integration (CI) feature of Team System 2008 Suite and how valuable it is.  No doubt, CI is valuable but what get's me is that they all are discussing it as though CI is a new concept.  Let's be fair and mention the fact that MS is being reactive and Team System is late to the CI party. The sad fact is even tough CI has been around for a long time most enterprises will not even look at it until it has the MS stamp of approval.

Giddy Up!

I was contacted by uCertify requesting that I do a review of their certification PrepKit software. I agreed because I was already studying for the MCTS exam 70-528 and wanted to see if their software would really be an asset to passing the exam. Initially, I wanted to use only their software to study for the test and then write my review. I felt that would be a great way to write a quality review of their product. Since agreeing to do the review my study efforts have diminished (moving to Colorado, taking a new job, etc.) but I still wanted to put together a review of their product.

Product: 70-528-CSHARP PrepKit
Cost: $59.99 (use discount code “ERIKLA“ and receive 10% off)

Likes:

• The UI is very well done, easy to navigate, and easy to look at.
• The quiz feature is the strongest feature of the program. You can select the number of questions from each focus area and then take the quiz. One nice touch is that after you answer the question the timer goes directly to 5 secs. and then goes to the next question. That's enough time to see your answer but yet you don't have to take your hands off of the keyboard to go to the next question.
• Study notes are useful as they match up with the exam objectives. They state the objective and then provide a summary review of that objective.
• Exam objectives with notes are nice as well. It is similar to the study notes but instead of a summary it provides an in-depth review of the objective.
• Reports are a nice feature that show your progress from the diagnostic exam through the simulated test.
  

Dislikes:

• I didn't like the flash cards feature. The main reason is that it gives you a text area to type in your answer.  Although this may be helpful to some, I didn't want to take the time to type out my answer when I can just think it and then compare to the actual answer.

So-So:

• Articles are nice for further development but not critical for studying for the exam.
• Study tips, again, are nice for further development and are great for someone who has never written code associated exam but it's not critical for the exam.
• HowTo's are not critical but are a nice feature that walk you through, via screen shots, how to do a lot of the tasks associated with passing the exam.

Conclusion:

For me, the uCertify product is great add-on for prepping for the exam. I say add-on because I don't feel comfortable saying this tool could be used as the only source to prepare for the exam; especially if someone has no practical experience in the area covered by the exam.  My study style will still be to write code and use technical books and study guides to ensure I know how to do the tasks that are covered in the exam. I certainly would use uCertify for their quizzes and test simulations as I get closer to taking the exam. I think that's a good strategy and for $60 it's a good deal as well.

Update:  The great people over at uCertify will give a 10% discount on the uCertify PrepKit of your choice when you use discount code “ERIKLA“.